Although these have been described as regular die trial pieces, this is believed to have been deliberately struck as part of the unique copper set from the quarter to double eagle, including the rare 1884 trade dollar, presented to A.M. Smith, who authored the Mint's visitors guides.

It was offered by M.H. Bolender in his 101st sale of the A.M. Smith collection in February 1936 as lot 32 and reappeared in his 8/38 sale.. It later appeared in the Stacks 4/66 Bolt sale and, more recently, in Heritage 1/06 and Stacks 6/07 sales and is now in the Simpson collection.